Brisbane — Biloela
5 May 2019
As the Pterodactyl flies, it's a lazy 2,283 kms from Sydney to Brisbane to Cooktown. It's a bit further by CB1100 which is happily constrained by roads.
I'd been contemplating a ride to Far North Queensland (FNQ) for some time and mentioned to Pterodactyl that I might do it while the weather was cool and he was away on the other side of the planet. Before I quite knew what had happened, it was happening before his planned departure.
FNQ is further from Brisbane than Melbourne (just) and, like many remote places, people there feel very separate and under-appreciated. It's probably fair enough: it's a long way, the climate is different and they face entertainments—cyclones, crocodiles and irukandji (or box) jellyfish and the like—denied to those of us who live further south. And, of course, we just don't understand them.
And so it came to pass that, on a morning early in May, after Pterodactyl had made the first leg of the trip—I assume as the CB travels, but who'd know—I met him at a service station in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Laden with gear we pointed north and took a land-based route.
Master Map
After a few minutes on the national highway we headed inland through the very pretty Burnett region. The roads are not particularly windy, but there's enough turning and undulation to make it an interesting ride. It's pretty, too. Just after Gayndah we passed a chap exercising his BMW 800GT. He hooked in behind us and joined us while we refuelled and ate at Eidsvold. I think he may have been a tad envious of our planned adventure.
We reached Biloela without further incident and took a room in a motel from which we could watch the Jerez master class delivered by Marc Marquez.
Cormanus hits the trail
Pterodactyl's CB
Brunch at Moore
The Big Mandarin at Gayndah
The road and topography earlier in the day
The road approaching Biloela
